Founder Dependency Math - Calculating Your Exit Discount
Learn to quantify how founder dependency impacts your business valuation and create a prioritized extraction plan for organizational independence
Expert insights on business valuation, exit strategy, and value creation. Everything you need to maximize your sale price.
Explore our 19 articles across all topics
Learn to quantify how founder dependency impacts your business valuation and create a prioritized extraction plan for organizational independence
Learn how buyers analyze free cash flow conversion and discover frameworks for presenting your business's actual cash generation effectively
Transform your company into an acquisition target buyers compete for. Learn the operational and financial strategies that maximize business value before exit.
When key customers won't take buyer reference calls it can derail deals. Learn why reference reluctance happens and how to secure participation effectively
Learn to distinguish genuine organizational loyalty from founder-dependent relationships and build institutional commitment that survives ownership transition
Informal power structures may signal transition risk to buyers. Learn how to identify hidden hierarchies and determine when formalization strengthens exit value.
Standard operating procedures signal organizational maturity to buyers and can reduce transition risk in business sales
Transform founder-driven sales into repeatable scalable processes that reduce key person dependency and position your business for stronger buyer interest
Learn when and how to notify customers during a business sale to satisfy buyer diligence while protecting competitive position and relationships
Learn how proactive stakeholder conversations with partners, employees, and family can help reduce friction during your business exit process
Learn how acquirers assess your management team as potential post-close leaders and how their performance during buyer meetings may impact your deal terms
Learn how buyers assess technology during M&A due diligence and discover frameworks to evaluate and strengthen your systems before going to market
Learn how cross-sell penetration metrics reveal customer relationship depth and revenue quality that buyers use to evaluate acquisition targets
Learn how entitlement culture affects exit valuations and how to restore performance-based accountability before buyers identify risks in due diligence
Learn how service business owners can overcome human capital dependencies and demonstrate transferability to maximize valuation during exit
Strategic cost reduction before exit can improve EBITDA and buyer perception while avoiding add-back negotiations during quality of earnings analysis
Learn how customer concentration affects business valuation and discover strategies to mitigate buyer concerns during exit planning
Learn how to optimize customer acquisition costs to improve unit economics and create sustainable value that attracts buyers and supports earnout performance